Tim's July Challenge, etc.

So, as my title suggests, this project was an attempt at Tim's Tag of July, 2016:

Image with gratuitous texture!

What a difference lighting makes...

The panel up to the addition of Frayed Burlap DI

Extreme close-up showing my imperfect sealing...

This just looked so pretty with the sunlight on it... had to take a pic...

Ewwww... unforgiving lighting!  Sloppy sealing!

Here are his graphics of the July remix:

Well, so I took a couple roads less traveled, but tried to get the overall "feel" of what Tim had done.

Supplies and notes:

The watercolor resist technique:

• Started with a panel of watercolor paper and inked an Invoke Arts stamp with Archival
• Painted the Invoke image with various DIs on the craft sheet, including Aged Mahogany, Pine Needles, Forest Moss, Tea Dye... I also added splashes of Tarnished Brass and Antique Bronze Distress Stains for the crowns
• In order to seal, I used Distress Collage Medium in Matte... totally imperfect...
• Heat-dried and then sprayed with Distress Stain in Pumice Stone.  Oh man: it totally bled under my sealed image and I was worried... but then I hit it with the heat tool and it settled down... thankfully...
• Next, I went around the edges of the panel with Frayed Burlap DI and sprinkled a little water for some visual interest
• Also added some speckles per Tim's suggestion with an old metallic marker.  Very subtle, but I like it.

The layered text technique... well, actually kind of... not reallly... I have one word die, and it's "joy"... didn't fit the project:

• Sooo... for the background "word layer" I used Tim's Mixed Media thinlit that I thought would fit the best.  I cut into some centurian music paper and folded it around the watercolor panel, then affixed it on the backside with 7 Gypsies masking tape.
• Because I liked the look of Tim's technique, I kind of did my own thing to achieve it by writing "love" with a Pebeo Relief Outliner

Additional notes:

• The knocked out pieces of the lattice die became butterflies, adhered with Glossy Accents
• Stickles in Black Diamond are the butterfly bodies and a casually-drawn border
• The hanging apparatus is True Hemp metallic twine
• I also added some Pebeo Relief Outliner in clear glitter to the mermaid wings

I'd also like to share this at Simon Says Stamp on Wednesday: Things With Wings.  The mermaids have wings, and so do the butterflies.  At one point the entire tag had wings but I didn't like them... I think I might make wings I like for it in the future... for now, the card itself does not fly!